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Matt Ryan

A journey lugging aspirations and experiences, tools and ideals.

Simplification

Minsgame Complete

Minsgame Complete

by Em Are · Oct 3, 2016

The game is over. Time to take a step back and see how it all turned out. (Actually, it ended August 31 and this post languished in my ‘drafts’ folder for a month! Stuff happens. We move on.)

First, I want to point out that the sheer act of removing almost 1000 “things” from your home in 31 days is liberating. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, it doesn’t result in a spartan residence. Instead it left me with a strong sense of accomplishment.

I set a goal to do this, with my wife, and we did it. We finished an entire month of the #MINSGAME. If you missed our startup of this little game, you can read all about it here.

Our Instagram feeds are now stuffed with pictures of stuff that we no longer have. Well, I need to be completely honest on that point. We do still have some of the stuff, however, its in a box or a pile that has to be transported to either the local Habitat For Humanity ReStore, or taken to our neighborhood Thrift Shop.

N.B. As of publication of this post, all of the stuff really has left our abode.

Someday I’ll include an inventory of what has moved on, but suffice it to say we have a lot less stuff that hasn’t been touched in 5+ years.

I say that the process left me with a sense of accomplishment. True, but during the month, I will say that I did experience periods of elevated stress. Primarily toward the later half of the month when each day meant identfying 20, 21, or even 25 separate things to get rid of. With two of us doing it we had to make sure we didn’t overlap.

And then the inevitable “You’re getting rid of that?!
I can use that for . . . <insert future potential project idea here>”.

We worked through it. Much of the give and take we’ve been practicing the last few years. If something new comes into the house, then the same number of somethings old must leave the house. So it went with our #minsgame items. If I longed for one of the items in Carol’s pile on any given day, I had to replace it with something from my pile, which means I then had to find something else to add to my pile.

Fair is fair – even in #minsgame.

The stress was mostly self imposed – after all, isn’t most stress self-imposed? – and a daily conversation with myself about purpose and goals helped me settle down and get back in the rhythm of decluttering.

It’s kind of ironic that I am nearing the end of a web development project for a client in NYC offering lifestyle coaching and personal decluttering. As I begin to add more of her actual content to the website, I find myself reading her words and getting caught up in the mindset of cleansing – not so much from a body perspective, but more from a personal environment point of view.

Experience a cleansing of your personal space and reduce the stress associated with too much stuff. After all, how many times do I need to walk past that laptop shipping box from 2010 sitting in my office before I just put it in the paper recycling bin. Too many times; but no more. It’s gone, and with it the daily “I really don’t need to keep that box, do I?” question. There, one extraneous bit of self-doubt and internal judgement gone. Thank you #minsgame #day25.

Truth be told, I would do it again. Probably wait until after the first of the year though; I have enough going on right now.

But . . . the Christmas season is approaching. Do you think there’s anything we can get rid of in 27 years of accumulated Christmas decorations 😉

Filed Under: Simplification Tagged With: declutter, minimalism, simplicity

Let The Games Begin

Let The Games Begin

by Em Are · Aug 2, 2016

No, not the Olympic Games.  The Minimalist Games! A different type of game, where you win even if you don’t come in first.

The brainchild of The Minimalists – Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus – this exercise in jettisoning excess stuff is just what I need at this point in my quest for living a more meaningful and stress-free life. Carol and I are doing this together, so that means by the end of the month, together, we will have reduced our possessions by almost 1,000 items. *Show my work. That sounds incredible!

As I write this we are on day two of #MinsGame. Carol has already done away with her two items for today – a pair of unworn and forgotten shoes (not quite sure if that should count as one pair or two shoes, but I’m trying to check my severe anal-retentiveness at the door for this). We both did our due diligence yesterday, day 1.

instagram-glyph-logo_May2016_200
Matt
instagram-glyph-logo_May2016_200
Carol

If you are so inclined, follow along as we try to regularly record our progress on Instagram.

 

I have been dancing around  the edges of a more simplistic lifestyle for a while now, partially out of necessity, but more out of a desire to better appreciate things around me. The book, Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown, which I first read back in early 2014, got me hooked on the path to create a lifestyle of intention, focus, and purpose; devoid of excessive noise, stress inducing clutter and disruptive distraction.

As a solopreneur, by definition I work by myself, and full expect to remain so. I do interact with clients via calls, both voice and video, and lots of email. Since my clients are global (yes, I can say that now), I don’t do much in the way of face to face meetings. Regular monthly WordPress and Computer Society meetups keep me in touch with the human side of being a remote website developer. Without commuting and less meetings there’s more time to spend in the office. I need to find ways to decompress when its time to move away from the keyboard.

My wife and I are empty-nesters, our youngest having moved out about 17 months ago, so simplifying things is high priority. I really want to be able to enjoy this new stage of life. Simple life, reduced stress, more quality time, time to learn new things – I think this is a good point to find these things.

minimalist-fundWe had a yard sale about a month ago. It was wildly successful and enabled us to stuff our “minimalism fund jar” with lots of cash (mostly $1s, but hey, every dollar counts). More importantly, we were able to move physical “stuff” out of our house and onto others who could love it and re-purpose it for a new use.  I don’t want to fill up my local landfill with my past, but rather move it along its life-cycle.

Our stuff has had a purpose here, in our house, and now its time for a new purpose, with someone else.

Many of the  books I’ve read and bloggers I follow talk about surrounding yourself only with things that bring you joy – whether they be new things, or well used things – they should make you happy to see them, or at the very least, not bring about pangs of “I need to do something with that thing”.

Reduce the clutter and reduce the stress. That’s our goal. By the end of this month, if all goes as planned and we fully participate in our 31-day #MinsGame, the clutter will be reduced by 992 clutter-contributors. I’ll be real happy with that.

Gotta start somewhere …

 

 


Work Shown

1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17+
18+19+20+21+22+23+24+25+26+27+28+29+30+31 =

496 things * 2 people = 992 clutter causers => approx 1,000 items outta here!

Filed Under: Simplification Tagged With: declutter, essentialism, minimalism

How do you define Peace?

How do you define Peace?

by Em Are · Dec 8, 2014

I’ve taken up the practice of mediation lately. Yes, “practice” is the right word here, since I’m finding it quite the challenge to do it. Sometimes when I get down to it I just can’t keep my mind focused, or empty of thoughts, or quiet – however its supposed to be described. On Friday morning I was doing okay. It was early. I was warm, sitting in the living room in my favorite spot, no coffee yet (really early) and I’m listening to a guided meditation on my iPhone headphones (I use the Calm app) and all of a sudden I get a feeling that some pinpricks are finding their way into my lap. It’s that damn cat again, interrupting my calmness to knead my lap into something comfortable for her. Oh well, there goes this morning’s experience. Might as well wait until she is comfortable so I can continue. Why am I going on here? What about the definition of peace? I’m getting there. Bear with me.

One of my mediation practices is to participate in an adult education forum at my church. The theme this month is advent and the topic yesterday was Peace, it being the second Sunday of Advent. Our leader began the session by reading off a list of definitions she had found for the word ‘Peace ‘.  Take a look.

  1. …freedom from disturbance (i.e. not having a cat on your lap)
  2. …quiet & tranquility
  3. …freedom from, or the cessation of, war or violence
  4. …a state of security or order within a community
  5. …harmonious relations
  6. …a stress-free state of security and calmness
  7. …to be complete; to be whole; to be sound
  8. …wholeness of life and body
  9. …harmony between two parties or people, often established as a covenant
  10. …a blessing – in greeting & farewells meaning “may your life be filled with health, prosperity and victory” or “I hope you have all the highest good coming your way”
  11. …a state in which a person is not bothered by thought or feeling of doubt, guilt or worry
  12. …a state in which people do not argue or cause trouble

Quite a few definitions. Our small group had a good discussion about our own definitions of peace, and then we were led on a short 15 minute journey via a guided meditation to find that place within ourselves where we find peace and safety.

Our discussion, and re-reading over the list, opened my eyes to new opportunities for peace in my own life. I realize that my daily practicing of meditation is helping me to find that peaceful state within me, but even more profound, is that it is enabling me to find peace in others, in how they interact with me, with the community, with other stresses in their lives.

It is helping me in my business, understanding the differences in priorities each of us has. Time-frames are very personal – priorities are personal – achievement of a state of peacefulness is very personal. By being able to see peace in others, I have found it easier to maintain that sense within myself. What better time of year to find peace, than during the Christmas season.

Back to the title of the post. How do you define peace? Do you find it easier to come across this time of year? Does one of the 12 defs above work for you more than the others? Or perhaps you have another definition to add to the list. Let me know your thoughts below.

Thanks for sticking with me today.

Peace. Shalom. Aloha.

Filed Under: Simplification Tagged With: meditation, motivation

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